Police have a beef with at large meat thieves

Two suspects have been detained and two others are still being sought for allegedly stealing over 200,000 yuan (US$31,000) worth of beef from a refrigerated warehouse in suburban Shanghai, police said on Friday.

The theft took place at around midnight on December 31 on Taihe Road in Baoyang area, Baoshan District, and the person who rented the refrigerated warehouse reported it to police on January 1.

One of the suspects, a man surnamed Jiang, breached the lock to the warehouse and, together with other suspects, stole 45 boxes of beef and transported them to a meat shop in a wholesale vegetable market on Tiecheng Road, police said.

Ti Gong

Two suspects were caught by a surveillance camera at the warehouse stealing beef around midnight on December 31.

Ti Gong

The two were seen unloading the beef inside the vegetable market after the theft.

Two cars and an electric tricycle were used to transport the meat, but at first police failed to spot one of the cars on surveillance footage from the warehouse and on the street.

The next day the tricycle was found parked outside a meat shop in the vegetable market, which led to the discovery of a suspect, a man surnamed Wang, who ran the shop.

Wang owned up to the theft, and said he was talked into doing it by Jiang, police said.

Jiang fled Shanghai after the theft and after a few days was caught in Zunyi city, Guizhou Province.